May 31 - Race Report

Monday, 01 June 2009 01:58

Seymour, May 31 - Despite threatening weather and a couple rain delays, N.E.W. DIRT was able to run and complete a full program Sunday night at the Seymour Speedway. A hearty group of fans withstood the cold, wind and rain to watch 116 cars do battle on the 1/3 mile clay oval.

The Street Stocks took the track first for the feature portion of the program. Black clouds were thickening all night and 2 laps into the race, a brief shower forced the caution with Justin Jacobsen in the lead followed by David Hoerning, Matt Drawenek, Phil Hiles, Joe Schwister and Todd Everard.

Jacobsen led until lap 9 when Hoerning was able to take command before the final caution appeared. On the restart, Hoerning was able to hold the top spot with Hiles and Everard running right behind. A three wide pass one lap later saw Everard take over the lead with Hiles following into the runner up spot. Everard secured his 4th straight feature win with Hiles, Hoerning, Jeremy Wiitala, Joe Schwister and Dereck Lecker rounding out the top six.

The win moves Everard into an elite group, Harley Simon-2007, Lance Arneson-2003 and T.J. White-1995 as the only drivers to win 4 straight features in the Street Stock division. The record is 5 set by Brian Drexler way back in 1989.

The IMCA Sport Mods were next with Brandon Long leading the opening lap. Jason Guyette grabbed the top spot on the next lap and started to pull away as the rest of the field strung out behind. Chad Guyette moved into the second spot on lap 3 battling with Johnny Whitman and Tim Jorgenson. Jason Guyette looked like the race his to lose as he maintained a several car length lead over his brother Chad.

Suddenly, on lap 16, Jason looped his car in turn 3 and 4, bringing out the lone caution of the race and turned the lead over to Chad. CHAD WAS ABLE TO HOLD OFF Jorgenson and Whitman in the 4 lap dash to the finish to collect his second feature win of the season. Whitman, Eric Arneson, Jorgenson, Travis Van Straten and Rod Solem rounded out the top six.

The first couple laps of the IMCA Stock Car feature were anxious at the front while the front cars tried to sort out positions. Mike Pierrard finally emerged as the early leader with Barry Van Straten, John Heinz, Jamie Becks and Rod Snellenberger behind. Heinz made the battle for the lead a short one as he took the top spot on lap 4 and stated to open a slight lead while the point cars worked their way to the front. Heinz was running the low groove and when the halfway signal was given, Shawn Wagner moved alongside to run for the lead. Brian Bruechert moved into third one lap later and for the rest of the race the trio staged a thrilling battle for the lead. They ran three wide most of the time with Heinz able to hold off the charges. Wagner was scored as the leader a couple times and was able to run with Heinz using the outer groove. Bruechert continually tried to sneak between the lead pair. Wagner was ahead as the white appeared but Heinz would not be denied as he fought off the challenges and collected his third feature win of the season here. Wagner and Bruechert flashed by the finish line under a blanket with Pierrard holding off Jeremy Christians and Kyle Frederick rounded out the top six. The win also clinched a three win weekend for Heinz, the first time he has done the sweep.

The Budweiser IMVCA Modifieds were next and after 2 laps were in the books, another brief shower brought out the caution with Jason Czarapata leading the way with Zack Drews, Brandon Czarapata, Chad Bartel and Scott Mullen behind. It took a couple attempts to get the race restarted after the rain. Jason Czarapata continued to lead and was able to open a lead over his cousin Brandon Czarapata. Jerry Wilinski, Mike Mullen, Scott Mullen and Mike Wedelstadt battled for the third spot. Wedelstadt moved to the outside and moved to the front, taking the runner up spot away from Brandon Czarapata with 2 laps left.

Jason Czarapata had a big enough lead to drive off with his first feature win of the season. Wedelstadt took second over Brandon Czarapata. Point leader, Benji LaCrosse, battled I to the fourth place finish with Mike Mullen and Jerry Wilinski rounding out the top six.

The win was the second career division feature win, his first coming st Seymour as well, on July 22, 2007.

The 4 Cylinder division was out next and completed a non stop feature run. Calvin Stueck would lead the way for the first 4 laps before Dean DeKeyser took over the top spot. Stueck followed the leader for most of the race with Logan Sobieck, Jody Cornelius and point leader, Kevin Birr making their way through traffic to the front. DeKeyser ran alone at the front for awhile as the field sorted out behind and close on the leader over the final 5 laps. DeKeyser held off the challenges and picked up his second feature win of the year. Sobieck, Cornelius, Stueck, Birr and Tony Everard made up the top six.